1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to identifying a product and more particularly relates to product identification using image analysis and user interaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the number of manufactured retail products in a typical family's home increases, the number of warranty cards, instruction manuals, and accessories also increases. Often, the very identity of many products is also lost, thus making it hard to order new accessories or investigate warranty information. Typically, an individual can preserve the identity of a product by saving the product packaging, instruction manual, receipt or other materials that provide model numbers and the like for the product. However, even with taking these protective measures which require foresight and continual maintenance, this documentation remains difficult to sift through. In addition, different retailers use various SKU's, model numbers may change, and so forth.
Many times, retailers and manufacturers will only maintain information on their websites for the most recent version of a product with a particular model number, even if the appearance or function has changed between versions. As a result, the only means to identify a product is often the physical appearance of the product itself. However, not all manufacturers' websites have product images. Even so, many products appear similar at first glance. Moreover, an individual may not even know a product's manufacturer or place of origin. Web-based image recognition software exists which will search for images or items of similar color or shape. However, the results will depend alone on the quality of the image comparison, and, even if similar products are returned, an individual will still be unsure of the identity of his product.